Last night, my youngest son anxiously and loudly called me to the back window urgently.  He said, “Mom!  Look at all the rats!!”  I believe my reply was something super articulate and helpful like “Oh hell no!”

But then, I looked.  It wasn’t rats.  It was bunnies.  Lots of them.  It appeared to me that a wild bunny had given birth to like a dozen more and they evidently burrowing in an endlessly deep tunnel in a raised plant bed just a couple feet from my back door.  This is NOT what we want, but it does explain why all the sudden my boxwoods are dying. The roots are being eaten.  Also, the internet paints a scary scenario of where this bunny situation could be if I don’t intervene quickly.  I mean, I’m not looking to be a bunny murderer, but did you know they can give birth every thirty days to litters of a dozen or more that pretty much eat every living plant in the vicinity?  I mean what do I know?  Maybe it’s fake news, but that’s what Google says, so who am I to argue? HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM.

Most of us are familiar with the phrase “going down the rabbit hole” and we know that it is a metaphor meant to explain how we can cause ourselves no end of trouble by descending into a bad state by our own poor choices.

I’m grasping the concept a little more now, both literally and figuratively.

During lent, I gave up some social media.  Twitter is especially bad for me, I’d learned.  So I decided to take a break.  However, in my quest to stay abreast of current news, I picked up a couple of news sources that are emailed to me each day.  You’ve seen the quote that applies here, right?  “Don’t let anyone else ruin your day.  It’s your day.  Ruin it yourself.”  HA?  This morning, the very first thing I did (before saying “good morning” to my husband or saying “good morning” to Jesus) was read a news item.  (Cue the dark scary voice of Vincent Price from MJ’s Thriller album).  The title of the story was, “Birthing People”.

You see, apparently, a congresswoman from Missouri referred to women as “birthing people” during her testimony before some House subcommittee, because they banned the use of gender-specific terms like “mother” and “father.”  I was highly amused, but also a little more than riled.  I sent the story to a few of my friends.  And you see, that’s where the rabbit hole comes in.

My snarky commentary about being super pumped for my “Birthing Person’s Day Blessing” at mass on Sunday did NOT help anyone’s day begin in a joyful or godly manner.  EPIC FAIL.

“To live in love is to sail forever, spreading seeds of joy and peace in hearts.”  –St. Therese

So, now you see why I love Trixie so much.  This saint is a woman who reminds me by the example of her life what is important and what we are truly meant to do.  We are meant to LOVE.

I vowed to work to shine a litter brighter with the rest of my weekend, and to be the type of person that draws people to goodness and makes them feel loved and fully alive. I hope you and I spend our days doing more listening, noticing, and caring…instead of heading down the rabbit hole of negativity.  This week, I saw that Franklin Graham said, “We are living in an increasingly secular and anti-God culture.  We need to let our light shine in the darkness.”  A to the MEN, Rev. Graham.

So, this morning, I wasn’t so impressive. We’re all full of weaknesses and imperfections. We can beat ourselves up and continue down the rabbit hole if we choose. I chose to begin again. Every single time I get it wrong, that’s what I must do. You must do the same. The Lord needs all of us who love Him to do our part, folks. If not us, who?

“Speak words of hope.  Be human in this most inhuman of ages.  Guard the image of man for it is the image of God.”  –Thomas Merton